Grades vs. School?

[AcousticGS]

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Is it better to get low B's at a program like NYU, or high A's at a program like Manhattanville?

Thoughts?

 

[relentless11]

Low B's would mean a B-, and a B- = 2.7. Therefore having a 2.7-3.0 GPA is no better than a 4.0 from any school, even if it was from the best school in the nation. Same thing goes for major, you are always expected to do well in the major of YOUR choosing. Even if it is something hard like engineering.

Now if comparing a 4.0 at a well known school vs. a 4.0 from an unknown school. If everything were equal (everything else in the appilication), then quite possibly the person at the better school may win. But how often does that happen?

 

[Remiller]

It's way better to get awesome grades at an easier school than mediocre, or even 'good' grades at difficult school. It sucks, but that's how it is. In my experience, classes at junior colleges have been much, much easier than any classes at UCI. I'm confident I could have gotten nearly straight A's at a jc as opposed to my nearly B- average at UCI. My sister did exactly that (had below 3.0 at UCI, went to a jc and got a 4.0 every time, usually having the highest grade in each class). I just took a 5 unit spanish class at my local jc, went to class and put in about 1 hour a week at home and got an A easily. Freaking joke. At UCI I had to do P/NP and ended w/ a C+ in the same level spanish (thank goodness I did it P/NP).

 

[relentless11]

It's way better to get awesome grades at an easier school than mediocre, or even 'good' grades at difficult school. It sucks, but that's how it is. In my experience, classes at junior colleges have been much, much easier than any classes at UCI. I'm confident I could have gotten nearly straight A's at a jc as opposed to my nearly B- average at UCI. My sister did exactly that (had below 3.0 at UCI, went to a jc and got a 4.0 every time, usually having the highest grade in each class). I just took a 5 unit spanish class at my local jc, went to class and put in about 1 hour a week at home and got an A easily. Freaking joke. At UCI I had to do P/NP and ended w/ a C+ in the same level spanish (thank goodness I did it P/NP).

Your statement is a tad biased. Like at any other school, difficulty depends on you as the student, and the instructor teaching course(s). I found that my JC's OChem series was more challenging and indepth than the upper division series offered at UC Davis. I have heard the opposite from friends who went to different JC's, and even different universities. Regardless I did fine in all the courses, so clearly it depends on the JC you go to, rather than all JC coursework in general.

The problem with your comparison is the stigma that JC coursework is inferior. Although UC's have traditionally been OK with taking pre-reqs at a JC, doing poorly at the UC level while doing better at the JC level will raise a red flag. Mainly because all coursework at a JC is lower division, and combined with the inaccurate belief that JC classes are all "easier". A better comparison would be comparing a 3.0 from UCLA with a 4.0 from CSU Long Beach. Clearly the CSULB person will be in a better position.

 

[Instatewaiter]

I dont mean to adverserial, but the reason that the adcomm's universally share the belief that a JC is inferior is because it is. While your experience may show the one instance where it was not, it is the outlier. I am not sure whether it speaks more for the JC or against UC davis but either way most medical schools won't even let you use JC's for your prerec's. There is a reason for that.

 

[relentless11]

I dont mean to adverserial, but the reason that the adcomm's universally share the belief that a JC is inferior is because it is. While your experience may show the one instance where it was not, it is the outlier. I am not sure whether it speaks more for the JC or against UC davis but either way most medical schools won't even let you use JC's for your prerec's. There is a reason for that.

Actually this also applies to UCSF, UCLA, UCI, UCSD, Tulane, and Stanford, all of which I have spoken to, and at least at Tulane, UCD, UCI, Stanford, I have classmates from various JC's through out CA who were admitted without question about the level of quality that JC courses offer. (they took all their pre-reqs there)

In fact, your statement that "most medical schools won't even let you use JC's for your pre-reqs" is extremely false. Feel free to search the forums and the internet, since you will find that this is a minority. Off the top of my head, in addition to the schools that I mentioned, USC, OHSU, U of Wash, Washington University (St. Louis), Georgetown....and the list goes on... have no preference where you took your pre-reqs from. In fact, the school that you were admitted to, VCU, does not say they will not accept college level coursework, but only states that coursework has to be done at a college or university.

"The prerequisites for the School of Medicine have been reduced to a minimum in order to permit the widest possible latitude in preparation for medical education. Prerequisites for admission include a minimum of 90 semester hours (or the equivalent) in a U.S. college or university accredited by the regional accrediting agency. This program of study must include a minimum of: " (http://www.medschool.vcu.edu/admissions/Entranreq.html)

Regardless, you can see it however you like. But if counts against the UC's for accepting students who did pre-reqs from a JC, then so be it considering they are the top schools in the nation anyway, along with the rest I mentioned, and the numerous others that I did not mention. Your reasons appear to be baseless, and your over generalization without evidence is not helpful for this thread. However, it is certainly a common misconception that JC credit is not accepted by med schools since being on SDN, i have seen at least 3 threads that have made this error.

 

[Law2Doc]

Is it better to get low B's at a program like NYU, or high A's at a program like Manhattanville?

Thoughts?

In a postbac program you want to get "mostly A's" regardless. Mostly A's from NYU will probably be regarded better than mostly A's from Manhattanville. Low B's tend not to open doors no matter where you get them.